The Jellyrox: Heta Himlen| Posted August 03, 2012The Jellyrox is the side project of techno band Eleventyseven's vocalist, Matt Langston. He describes Heta Himlen as being even more electronic than anything he does with Eleventyseven, which I think is an accurate description of exactly what the album sounds like. (For all of you who are wondering what in the world Heta Himlen means, it is Swedish for hot heavens.) Matt Langston and Eleventyseven have long been known for their fun-loving nature and for creating super fun dance songs on every release, and Jellyrox definitely does not differ from that fun-loving nature. Many of the songs talk about love, which are backed up by awesome techno beats and of course Langston's awesome voice. I can still remember the first time I heard Langston's voice. Eleventyseven was giving away their song, "Love In Your Arms," for free and I downloaded it without any idea of what it would sound like. I instantly fell in love with his voice and with their sound; so, naturally I was pretty excited to hear he was coming out with this side project.

The album starts off with, "Glued," which is a perfect representation of Langston's fun-loving lyrics. The song is not quite as techno as the rest of the tracks on the album, but it is a great way to start the album off and it eases into the more techno stuff very well. The song would have probably fit pretty well on any Eleventyseven album, but it is definitely a great way to start the album off. "Made For Forever," which I believe was the first single from Heta Himlen, comes next. The song is written to a girl telling her that they were clearly made for forever, no matter what they may go through. Overall, the song is probably the strongest on the record, it is not too techno and everything just seems to flow naturally with this track.

"Sad Girl" is the perfect picture of techno music. There is a lot of production and programing on this song and lots of bells and whistles, as well as a good bit of autotune on Langston's voice. "All My Bones" was a track that instantly stood out to me from the moment I heard the first beat. The instrumentals are a little different than the rest on the album; they seem a little more serious, if that is even possible with techno music. The lyrics to the song fight right in with Langston's usual, fun lyrics, with this song talking about the bones in his body praying for someone to take them out.

The fifth track, "Shaken Out" is a great song, but I almost wish it had been at the very end of the album. After listening to it many times, it feels like it would have fit better as the last track on the album, to close it out the record. I definitely love the song though. "Dream Weaver" follows that up with a more retro song that reminds me a little bit of some of Owl City's older stuff, but with a more retro feel than that. The song also has some of my favorite vocals by Langston; the song is a perfect representation of how great his voice truly is.

"Mind Machine," I would say, is the most programed and produced song on the record, the beat never rests throughout the whole song unlike most of the other songs on Heta Himlen. "My Heartbeat" is another great example of Langston's awesome voice; the song is probably one of the slower ones on the record, and he really seems to thrive on those kinds of songs. "Survive My Love" is an interesting track that brings back the theme of love, which always seems to show up in like half of the songs Langston does. I absolutely love the synths on this song; in fact, I wish I had just the instrumentals to this song so I could constantly listen to just the beat all day long. "Closet Monster" closes out the album with another super fun song, that reminds me of both Owl City and Eleventyseven's early days, with of course a little more of a techno influence.

I have long been a fan of everything Matt Langston has done with Eleventyseven, and now I have another fun album to listen to from him in Heta Himlen. If you like electronic, techno, or pop music at all, then you are definitely going to want to check this one out. The lyrics are really laid back and just fun to listen to and so are the instrumentals. Every song on this record will easily make you smile and are a great way to relax or to jam out - whichever you feel like doing. If you like this then you should also definitely check out Eleventyseven! I cannot stop listening to this album, and I have a feeling you will not be able to either.

Favorite Song: Made For Forever

This review has been reprinted on NRT with permission from The Christian Music Review Blog. Click here to visit today!